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The 

Oneida Historical Society, 
At Utica, N. Y. 



CHARLES S. SYMONDS. 

Vice-Presidents^ 
EDWARD COMSTOCK, 
GEORGE M. WEAVER, 
JOSEPH V. HABERER. 
Corresponding Secretary^ 
CHARLES W. DARLING, A. M. 
Recording Secretary^ 
DONALD McINTYRE. 

Librarian^ 

DANA W. BIGELOW. 

Treasurer^ 

SYLVESTER DERING. 



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It is the mission of this Society to cover in its collecti< rs and 
researches the entire territory embraced in the original .".il di- 
vision of central New York — the County of Tryon, erected n 1772, 
rechristened Montgomery in honor of Gen. Montgomerv, and in 
contempt of a royal governor, in 1784; divided in 1791 irto the 
counties of Montgomery, Otsego, Tioga, Ontario and Herkimer, 
Oneida County bein^ erected out of the latter in i7g3. It is h wide 
field, for the boundaries of Tryon County included all the terri- 
tory lying west of a line running nearly north and south tlirough 
the present County of Schoharie. All the State of New York 
west of that line is our particular field; but we go beyond this, 
and exchange publications with many kindred societies in the 
United States and Europe. The County of Tryon included the 
hunting grounds of the Five Nations of Iroquois, who were the 
owners of this soil before our fathers possessed themselves of it, 
and whose civil and military achievments form a glorious chapter 
in the aboriginal history of America. We are the centre of the 
famous "long house" within fifty miles of the spot where the 
council fires were held, and so directly in the home of the Oneida 
tribe of Iroquois — the only one of the original Five Nations which 
stood by the colonists in their struggle for independence— 'hat 
Utica is the custodian of its "Sacred Stone." In many ways the 
original Tryon County is peculiarly interesting, in a historical 
point of view. Here lived, labored anddied. Sir William J<>hns<in, 
in many respects the most prominent figure in the colonial atinals 
of America. Here also lived his sons and their ally, Joseph Brnndt, 
who made the Mohawk Valley forever memorable as the scene of 
the fiercest and most relentless Indian and Tory massacres. 
Hither migrated the chief segment of the exiled Palatinates; and 
the story of their pioneer battles with the wilderness, their revo- 
lutionary patriotism under circumstances the most perilous that 
tested the nerves of any colonists, with the later record of their 
remarkable assimilation with the Atnerican race -a story never 
yet fully written out — offers inspiration for song, romance and 
history Here, also, were the frontier and defensive forts and 
castles of the French, the Indians and the English, as well as the 
colonists-Fort Bull, Fort Plain, Fort House, Fort Hill, Fort 
Hunter, Fort Dayton, Fort Schuyler, Fort Stanwix, Fort Oswego 
and Fort Brewerton. Here passed and repassed along the water- 
courses, over the Indian fords and through the trackless forests, the 
military ex jeditions of French and English, until the prowess of 
the later at length determined that the English race and civilization 
should predominate upon the continent. Here were fought the bat- 
tles of I Jriskany and Saratoga, upon whose fields the war for inde- 
pendence ceased to be a rebellion and became a revolution. Here 
the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company made the first at- 
tempt at artificial water navigation in America, an attempt which 
soon developed into the Erie Canal, upon whose waters the com- 
merce of a continent traverses from the lakes to the Atlantic. 
Here wis the scene of the romantic adventure and the unto 
fate of the Castorland Company, and here is the grave and mon- 
ument of the brave Baron Steuben. Here was tested one of the 
first railroads ever built. Here was organized the first express 
company. Here the telegraph was put to its first practical utility. 
Here were erected the first cotton factory and the first woolen 
factory chartered by the State of New York, and here has been 
the home of more than a due proportion of the statesmen whose 
life-work is a part of the history of New York and the Nation. 

The Oneida Historical Society is the proper custodian of the 
documents, manuscripts, relics and memorials, of every kind and 
description, which relate to and illustrate this remarkable history. 
And it remains for us to faithfully gather and preserve the valu- 
able materials of local history that still remain scattered, and are 
fast disappearing. 

The Oneida Historical Society has in no way done more to 
preserve and keep alive our local history, than by the monuments 
which it has helped to erect. The beginnings of our city are de- 
fined and perpetuated by the memorial of ot 1 Fort Schuyler. The 
settlement of the country is forever traced back to its pioneer bv 
the monument to Hugh White in the town which bears his name. 
The towering column at Oriskany teaches for all the strategic and 
commercial relations of the valley of the Mohawk to the conti- 
nent, while it gives immortality to the yeomen who withstood the 
armed hosts of invasion. For these this Society may claim its 
share of credit. The monument to Baron Steuben, due in large 
part to the thoughtfulness of our German fellow-citizens, at all its 
stages had the favor of our distinguished president, the late Gov. 
Horatio Seymour, whose eloquence crowned its dedication. He 
also contributed to the memorial to that early soldier— the soldier 
of the cross— Samuel K.irkland, missionary, leader in education in 
Central New York, and efficient patriot, by whose grave the hill- 
side above Oriskany Creek is made ever consecrated ground. 



Fac Simile of the Sij^natures to the Preliminary Articles of Peace with the Senecas. N. Y. Coi. 
Doc. VII, 621-3. Engraved from a tracing, procured by Mr. Berthold Fnerow for Geo. S. Conover, from 
the original document in the Public Record Office, London, in " America and West Indies, No. 121, 
Military, 1763 to 1765," being an enclosure to a letter of Maj. Gen'l Thos. Gage, dated New York, April 
14, 1754. The signature of Sayenqueraghta is that of Old Smoke or Old King, the "smoke bearer" or 
head chief who resided at Kanadesaga, the Capital of the Senecas. His totem is conclusive evidence 
that he was of the trreat Turtle clan. 






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